Top ten ninjas on PlayStation

Never mind Hiro, forget about Futo – Tora is quite easily the best character on Mini Ninjas. Why? Simple: he actually, genuinely thinks he’s a tiger. From dressing in stripes, through having claws and on to running on all fours, this little bugger is as useful as he is deluded.

Gray Fox
Metal Gear Solid

Raiden may have completely redeemed his character and turned up to kick some serious backside in MGS4, but he can never outdo what the original Ninja in the first Solid game did for us. That sacrifice… that //power//. We will never forget you or how you helped us, Frank Jaeger.

Ryu Hayabusa
Ninja Gaiden Sigma

Time has only ever been kind to the young Hayabusa, as he has quite clearly honest his skills with time. Back in the days of the original Ninja Gaiden, it’s unlikely he would have been able to decapitate fourteen enemies in the space of twelve seconds. For example, of course.

Rikimaru
Tenchu

This gruff blighter may have been completely ruined by the rather wayward Tenchu series and its insistence on going from brilliant to astonishingly bad in the space of just a few games, but we still remember him for his first appearance. Poison rice ball, approach the now-retching guard, bam.

Yoshimitsu
Tekken

Basically he’s an insane robo-ninja who is quite possibly from the future but most likely not. He used to rob from the rich and give to the poor, but now he just dances around, balancing on the hilt of his sword and annoying whoever he’s fighting against by teleporting and healing himself.

The Ninja
Ninja: Shadow of Darkness

We don’t remember much about this incarnation of the Ninja, but we do vaguely remember Shadow of Darkness was a spiritual successor to the Last Ninja series, which we loved back in the days of the Amiga. Which makes this more of an honourary entry than anything else, natch.

Raphael
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Leonardo was dull and leader-ey, Donatello was nerdy and had a stupid weapon and Michelangelo was just a prat with some nunchucks. Raphael, on the other hand, was “cool but crude”, as well as being the hardest of the turtles and the one most likely to inflict some serious back-sass on you.

Gold-thirsty Ninja
N+

This guy is probably the most ninja-like of all the ninjas on this list. Why? Well, because he’s as stealthy as they come and blends entirely into the background without you ever noticing he’s there. We’re not talking about in-game, we mean how he infiltrates your very mind and makes you crave N+ at all hours.

Joe Musashi
Shinobi

Joe wasn’t actually on the PS2 version of Shinobi – that was some berk called “Hotsuma”. Fortunately the Mega Drive Collection exists on PlayStation so we can claim the most famous gaming ninja as our own. He walked, threw shurikens, saved strange-looking pink people: Joe did it all!

Ol’ Master Ninja
Ninjatown

Technically this is a bit naughty, as Ol’ Master is from the world of the Nintendo DS, but still – we can be let off for this. He’s great. He orders around Business Ninja and Consultant Ninja while cleaning up the mess Mayor Ninja leaves behind. It’s funnier than it sounds, honestly.